| This Descriptive study sought to investigate nurses' knowledge, feelings beliefs, and thoughts about ionizing radiation as no other study, to this author's knowledge, had done so. To this end, 600 surveys were sent to registered nurses in the New York metropolitan area. A total of 219 complete surveys were returned. The Likert-scale data were considered interval data for statistical purposes, and the responses of the nurses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and correlations. An analysis of the demographic and professional status data indicated that this sample of nurses: (a) was overwhelmingly female; (b) mostly 40–49 years old; (c) had either 1–5 years or 11–15 years of experience; (d) mostly had bachelor's degrees; (e) were educated in the United Sates of America or Asia; (f) mostly worked in intensive care units, but also worked in a variety of other primary areas, and (g) spent less than 1 hr per week in activities that involved ionizing radiation.; The Likert-scale ratings indicated that nurses (a) had the most fear of ionizing radiation in the event of a nuclear leakage or in dealing with isotopes yet very little fear of radiation when having or accompanying a patient for x-rays, (b) had a poor knowledge of the sources of ionizing radiation in a medical setting, (c) but believed that radiation monitoring devices should be used by pregnant nurses and those nurses involved in radiological procedures; (d) obtained most of their information regarding ionizing radiation from the media and not from professional sources such as their school of nursing; (e) placed more trust in the media coverage of ionizing radiation issues than in professional sources; (f) admitted that they knew very little about the physics of ionizing radiation; (g) felt that ionizing radiation was more dangerous to health than exposure to other occupational hazards; (h) thought that ionizing radiation was most involved in the generation of cancers rather than other genetic conditions; (i) felt disimpowered and abandoned with regard to enhancing their awareness of radiation issues. The results of the present study prescribe that programs be established to educate nurses so that they become knowledgeable about ionizing radiation. |
